VOA慢速英语2011--Deep Space Is Next Aim for NASA After Sh

THIS IS AMERICA - Deep Space Is Next Aim for NASA After Shuttles

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Shirley Griffith.
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: And I'm Christopher Cruise. This week on our program, we look at the American space program and its future. And we talk with Buzz Aldrin. Forty-two years ago this week, he became the second person ever to walk on the moon.
(MUSIC)
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Shuttle Atlantis is days away from landing in the history books as the last space shuttle flight. NASA, the National Aeronautics¹ and Space Administration, is retiring the shuttles after thirty years. Huge crowds gathered on July eighth to watch the launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
NASA ANNOUNCER: " ... and liftoff -- the final liftoff of Atlantis. On the shoulders of the space shuttle, America will continue the dream."
ATLANTIS: "The program, Houston."
MISSION CONTROL: "Roger, roll, Atlantis."
SECOND NASA ANNOUNCER: "Houston now controlling the flight of Atlantis. The space shuttle spreads its wings one final time for the start of a sentimental² journey into history."
Atlantis carried four astronauts and tons of supplies to the six crew members on the International Space Station. The cargo³ included science equipment, extra parts, clothing and a year's supply of food.
NASA is working with several companies to develop vehicles to replace the shuttles. Until then, Russian Soyuz spacecraft will carry Americans to and from the space station. Russian, European and Japanese cargo spacecraft will continue their resupply and waste disposal flights to the orbiting laboratory.
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: The space station is in low-Earth orbit. NASA will turn its attention to deep space.
Space exploration creates science. But the space program also creates jobs. For the shuttle program, NASA came to depend mostly on workers from private companies instead of government employees. The remaining several thousand contractors⁴ have no guarantee of work now that the program is over.
Last year Congress ordered NASA to develop a new Space Launch System that could be powerful enough to rocket crews into deep space. But some in Congress want to cancel plans for the next-generation replacement⁵ for the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope. The James Webb Space Telescope, named for a former NASA chief, is late and over budget.
President George W. Bush set a goal to return to the moon by twenty twenty, as the launching point for missions farther into space. President Obama canceled those plans. He announced his own plan for space exploration in a speech last year at the Kennedy Space Center.
BARACK OBAMA: "By twenty twenty-five, we expect new spacecraft designed for long journeys to allow us to begin the first-ever crewed missions beyond the moon into deep space. [Applause] So we’ll start -- we’ll start by sending astronauts to an asteroid⁶ for the first time in history. [Applause] By the mid-twenty thirties, I believe we can send humans to orbit Mars and return them safely to Earth. And a landing on Mars will follow. And I expect to be around to see it. [Applause]"
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: The final launch of Atlantis was the one hundred thirty-fifth shuttle launch since nineteen eighty-one. Two shuttles were lost, killing⁷ fourteen crew members.
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Challenger exploded shortly after launch. Columbia broke apart just minutes before it was supposed to land.
Plans call for Atlantis to spend its retirement⁸ at the privately⁹ operated Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Endeavour and Discovery will go to museums. So will the Enterprise, a test shuttle that never flew in space. But for now -- and in this economy -- not much else appears settled about the future of the American space program.
In two thousand seven China launched its first moon orbiter. India followed the next year with its own scientific mission.
China may try to send a crew of "taikonauts" to the moon by twenty twenty-five. A taikonaut orbited Earth on a Chinese-built rocket in two thousand three. China became the third country after the United States and the Soviet¹⁰ Union to use its own launch vehicle to send a person into space.
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: The space age began as a race between enemies, the United States and the Soviet Union. In nineteen fifty-seven the Soviets¹¹ put the first satellite, Sputnik, into orbit around the Earth.
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: The Soviets also sent the first person into orbit, Yuri Gagarin, in April of nineteen sixty-one.
In May, President John Kennedy went before Congress. He urged the nation to set a goal to put astronauts on the moon by the end of the sixties.
On July twentieth, nineteen sixty-nine, millions of people watched on live television as that goal was reached.
NEIL ARMSTRONG: "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.”
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: That was Neil Armstrong talking to Mission Control in Houston, Texas.
The landing craft was called the Eagle. It carried him and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin to the surface in an area known as the Sea of Tranquility.
Shortly after the landing, Neil Armstrong climbed down from the Eagle.
NEIL ARMSTRONG: "That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
Michael Collins was the third astronaut on the Apollo eleven mission. He piloted the command module¹² that orbited the moon while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin spent twenty-one hours on the surface. They were the first of twelve men, all Americans, who walked on the moon. The last moon landing was in December of nineteen seventy-two.
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: After his NASA years, Neil Armstrong settled into a quiet life of teaching and business, away from public attention. But life for Buzz Aldrin took a turn for the worse.
Edwin Eugene Aldrin Junior was born in nineteen thirty in New Jersey¹³. His father was an early pilot. Both of them became Air Force colonels.
His sister had found it difficult to say "brother." Instead she said "buzzer,” which became shortened to Buzz. Later in life, he legally changed his name to Buzz.
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Buzz Aldrin graduated third in his class from the United States Military Academy at West Point in New York. He was a fighter pilot in the Korean War who shot down two enemy fighters.
He earned a doctorate¹⁴ in aeronautics -- the science of flight -- at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He helped develop the use of underwater training to prepare astronauts to work in the weightless environment of space.
He first went into space as part of the Gemini twelve crew in November of nineteen sixty-six. He carried out a spacewalk that lasted more than five hours.
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Buzz Aldrin spent years preparing to go to the moon, but he was unprepared for the life that awaited him back on Earth.
Suddenly he was giving speeches to thousands of people. He was riding in parades, receiving awards, meeting world leaders, answering questions at press conferences. He had walked on the moon, and everyone had the same question: What was it like? It was all too much, he says.
BUZZ ALDRIN: “It did exact a toll¹⁵ on the change of a person’s life and I didn’t really relish¹⁶ that. But really, I shared with my first wife that if there was any preference, I’d just as soon be on a later mission. But that choice was really not up to me, and I wouldn’t have traded the opportunity that I had to be a part of Apollo eleven or certainly anything that could have come along.”
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: The Air Force later put Buzz Aldrin in command of a school for test pilots. But he was a fighter pilot, not a test pilot, and not a very good commander. He retired¹⁷ from the Air Force within a year, in nineteen seventy-two.
He had spent twenty-one years on active duty. Now, all of a sudden, he had nowhere he needed to be, no mission, no structure in his life.
He and the other astronauts had been presented as supermen. He found that the people closest to him could not believe he was having a tough time.
He wrote about his problems, and the help he received from psychiatrists¹⁹, in his nineteen seventy-three autobiography²⁰ "Return to Earth." But his life got worse. He published another book about it in two thousand nine.
There was a history of depression in his family. His mother’s father killed himself. And his mother -- who was named Marion Moon -- killed herself the year before the moon landing.
BUZZ ALDRIN: “Well, I had to live with who I was and what I inherited. And, as it turned out, I inherited genes²¹ from my mother’s side of the family.”
After two divorces, Buzz Aldrin again sought the help of a psychiatrist¹⁸. He secretly entered a hospital for treatment of depression and alcohol abuse. He says he came to understand that while millions may have considered him a hero, he was just a man.
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Now, Buzz Aldrin spends much of his time supporting space tourism. He thinks more people should have the chance to travel into space. He has written two children’s books to try to interest a new generation. And he has even put the message out through rap.
(SOUND)
Last year, at the age of eighty, Buzz Aldrin performed on the television show "Dancing With the Stars."
The former astronaut says he would like to go back to the moon to see how the American flag he and Neal Armstrong planted there is doing. He believes people could land on Mars by twenty thirty-one. He says nations should work together, just like with the International Space Station -- this time, to put colonies on the moon and Mars.
BUZZ ALDRIN: "We establish permanence -- not visits, not coming back, but this is settlers, these are colonists²². It’s like the Pilgrims on the Mayflower. They didn’t hang around Plymouth Rock waiting for the return trip. The most efficient way to settle human beings some other place is to prepare that place and then go and begin to occupy it right from the very beginning."
(MUSIC)
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Our program was produced by Brianna Blake. I'm Shirley Griffith with Christopher Cruise, who wrote this week's show.
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: What do you think of returning to the moon or colonizing²³ Mars? Write to us at voaspecialenglish.com or on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.
___
Contributing: Suzanne Presto

1 aeronautics   

n.航空术，航空学

参考例句：

• National Aeronautics and Space undertakings have made great progress.国家的航空航天事业有了很大的发展。
• He devoted every spare moment to aeronautics.他把他所有多余的时间用在航空学上。

2 sentimental   

adj.多愁善感的，感伤的

参考例句：

• She's a sentimental woman who believes marriage comes by destiny.她是多愁善感的人，她相信姻缘命中注定。
• We were deeply touched by the sentimental movie.我们深深被那感伤的电影所感动。

3 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

4 contractors   

n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Contractors winning construction jobs had to kick back 2 per cent of the contract price to the mafia. 赢得建筑工作的承包商得抽出合同价格的百分之二的回扣给黑手党。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

6 asteroid   

n.小行星；海盘车(动物)

参考例句：

• Astronomers have yet to witness an asteroid impact with another planet.天文学家还没有目击过小行星撞击其它行星。
• It's very unlikely that an asteroid will crash into Earth but the danger exists.小行星撞地球的可能性很小，但这样的危险还是存在的。

7 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

8 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

9 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

10 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

11 soviets   

苏维埃（Soviet的复数形式）

参考例句：

• A public challenge could provoke the Soviets to dig in. 公开挑战会促使苏联人一意孤行。
• The Soviets proposed the withdrawal of American ballistic-missile submarines from forward bases. 苏联人建议把美国的弹道导弹潜艇从前沿基地撤走。

12 module   

n.组件，模块，模件；(航天器的)舱

参考例句：

• The centre module displays traffic guidance information.中央模块显示交通引导信息。
• Two large tanks in the service module held liquid oxygen.服务舱的两个大气瓶中装有液态氧。

13 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

14 doctorate   

n.(大学授予的)博士学位

参考例句：

• He hasn't enough credits to get his doctorate.他的学分不够取得博士学位。
• Where did she do her doctorate?她在哪里攻读博士？

15 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

16 relish   

n.滋味，享受，爱好，调味品；vt.加调味料，享受，品味；vi.有滋味

参考例句：

• I have no relish for pop music.我对流行音乐不感兴趣。
• I relish the challenge of doing jobs that others turn down.我喜欢挑战别人拒绝做的工作。

17 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

18 psychiatrist   

n.精神病专家；精神病医师

参考例句：

• He went to a psychiatrist about his compulsive gambling.他去看精神科医生治疗不能自拔的赌瘾。
• The psychiatrist corrected him gently.精神病医师彬彬有礼地纠正他。

19 psychiatrists   

n.精神病专家，精神病医生( psychiatrist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They are psychiatrists in good standing. 他们是合格的精神病医生。 来自辞典例句
• Some psychiatrists have patients who grow almost alarmed at how congenial they suddenly feel. 有些精神分析学家发现，他们的某些病人在突然感到惬意的时候几乎会兴奋起来。 来自名作英译部分

20 autobiography   

n.自传

参考例句：

• He published his autobiography last autumn.他去年秋天出版了自己的自传。
• His life story is recounted in two fascinating volumes of autobiography.这两卷引人入胜的自传小说详述了他的生平。

21 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪

22 colonists   

n.殖民地开拓者，移民，殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Colonists from Europe populated many parts of the Americas. 欧洲的殖民者移居到了美洲的许多地方。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Some of the early colonists were cruel to the native population. 有些早期移居殖民地的人对当地居民很残忍。 来自《简明英汉词典》

23 colonizing   

v.开拓殖民地，移民于殖民地( colonize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The art of colonizing is no exception to the rule. 殖民的芸术是� 有特例的。 来自互联网
• A Lesson for Other Colonizing Nations. 其它殖民国家学习的教训。 来自互联网